Time To Prepare For Fall

Autumn Work Begins In August With Lawn, Garden Maintenance

Enjoy what you're picking off the vines because it's time to start thinking about - and putting your energy into - the chores that come with fall.

August is the month when the air tells you it's still summer but the ground whispers that fall is coming. You're still watering, keeping after lawn and garden pests and harvesting fruits and vegetables, but there's autumnal grunt work to do, too.

"August is a continuation of the July heat, but it brings out the fall vegetable gardener," says Jim Orband, Virginia Cooperative Extension Service agent in York County.

You might start by planning the renovation of your lawn. While some think September is the better month to do most of the heavy work, the patches of wild Bermuda grass that may be in your yard should be treated by mid-August, suggests Clark Dewing, landscape designer at Ken Matthews Landscape Nursery in Grafton. Use a nonselective herbicide, he says - something that is absorbed by, and kills, the foliage at which the spray is aimed. If you don't catch it, you'll have brown patches come fall.

Orband recommends "waking up" the lawn by fertilizing between Aug. 20 and Sept. 1. Something you might consider if your lawn lacks its old luster is core aeration. A core aerator removes plugs of grass, allowing you to feed the ground new water and nutrients, which will help give it a jump start for the new growing year. If your lawn has less than 60 percent good grass, a complete renovation, with a roto-tiller, is in order. Also helpful is putting down milorginite, which is nothing more than refined sewer sludge, which contains organic material and nutrients.

Cool-season grass, including the popular fescue, grows in the fall, winter and spring, which is why the time to get the seed and fertilizer in the ground is late August or early September.

Now - right now! - is also the time to have your soil analyzed for acidity, says Dewing. Materials can be picked up at your local Extension Service office and sent to Virginia Tech. Cost of the service is $6, he says. Soil around here tends to be acidic, which may be good for your azaleas, but it's not so great for the lawn. Therefore, it is important to know how much lime to apply to neutralize your soil's acid content.

By doing that now, you avoid the rush that comes every September.

In the garden, use this month to plan changes to your flower garden. "Think about where you want to plant different bulbs," says Dewing. Then, when the weather gets cooler, execute the plan.

Meanwhile, pick those deadheads. Cutting off the expired flowers on plants is almost a metaphor for life itself: Snip one that's past it's prime and you'll be rewarded almost immediately with the emergence of a new flower or two. Doing that may also prolong the period in which the plant will bear flowers.

The butterfly bush is a good example, says Dewing. It can bloom well into September.

As you wander around the garden, put your clippers away as you get to the ornamentals - your shrubs, trees and vines. "You don't want to prune them now," says Orband, "because that stimulates growth. When winter comes on you could leave them open to injury. You don't want them to grow."

While the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, beans and melons you planted in spring continue to keep you in salad and dessert, consider planting cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower, among other cool-season vegetables, at the end of this month. Besides the joy of gardening and eating, you can enjoy saving money, the Extension Service's newsletter notes. "At the time of year when retail vegetable prices are on the rise," it says, "you can be reaping large and varied harvests from your still-productive garden site."

When planting your fall garden, keep in mind that the crops of spring and summer absorbed much of the soil's nutrients. To restore them, spread a light layer of compost or aged manure, or a small application of complete chemical fertilizer.

A good time to plant is after a rain or after you've watered the area in which you're going to plant. Once young plants are established, a heavier mulch can be used to hold in moisture and control weeds.

AUGUST CHECKLIST

In August, a transitional month in the yard, you should be tending to the care and maintenance chores of summer - and planning for fall. Here's a checklist of what to do:

* Keep up your regular watering and mowing, and continue to watch for pests and blight.

* Plan the expansion of your flower garden, drawing on paper where you'll plant the various kinds of bulbs. Then, next month, do it.

* Clip the deadheads off your flowering plants. This will spur the blooming of new flowers and could prolong the plants' blooming period.

* Have your soil tested for acidity as a preliminary step to the renovation of your lawn, which you should begin midmonth.

* Keep picking those tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, beans and everything else you've gotten from your garden this summer. Be sure not to let them get overripe.